Central Asia news

Kyrgyzstan: Ex-chief of interior and nat’l security appointed deputy PM

01.03.2013 10:02 msk

Ferghana

On 28 Feb. 2013, the Kyrgyz parliament approved Shamil Atakhanov’s nomination for the position of the deputy prime minister in charge of security, law and order, and borders issues. There was no such position in the Kyrgyz government before.

Deputy PM Atakhanov was the head of the State Committee for National Security before being appointed the minister for internal affairs. He was removed from the ministerial post on 22 Feb. 2013.

Fergana learned from its sources in the Kyrgyz government that the introduction of this new position and the appointment of one of the Kyrgyz president’s closest allies were motivated by demands the government of Uzbekistan advanced earlier.

“Last year, Uzbekistan categorically refused to cooperate with the Kyrgyz side on the issues of delimitation and demarcation of borders. Following the incident in the Sokh enclave early January, a number of negotiations were held with Uzbekistan. The Uzbek side advanced several conditions, including a demand that a deputy prime minister for defense and border issues represents Kyrgyzstan. The motivation was that a deputy prime minister represented Uzbekistan. The Ata-Meken faction MPs [in the Kyrgyz parliament] then proposed to introduce the position,” our source said.